Boehner's job on the line in 2010

Few people have more on the line in the 2010 elections than House Minority Leader John A. Boehner.

Under his watch, Republicans have not only lost seats, they have lost some very important ones in Boehner’s backyard in Ohio. He has the highly ambitious Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) just below him in the leadership, and it’s no secret there could be a big push to move Cantor up and Boehner out if the GOP loses more seats this time around.

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This pressure has Boehner applying some pressure of his own — on his fellow Republicans.

Boehner is threatening to deny help to GOP members who fail to hit specific benchmarks for raising money, putting together effective campaign operations, hiring the right people and smartly managing their campaign resources.

If the members miss their metrics, GOP leaders will refuse to bail them out with last-minute infusions of cash from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“Boehner and [Minority Whip] Eric Cantor are on board with this 110 percent,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who is running the program — called “Patriot” — for the GOP.

Boehner has considerable power to make good on his threat because not only did he force out the former NRCC Chairman Tom Cole, he had him replaced with his hand-picked successor, Pete Sessions of Texas. For good measure, he also installed his trusted political adviser Johnny DeStefano as deputy director at the NRCC. GOP insiders say Boehner now has more power than ever over the NRCC.

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This all makes one thing abundantly clear: There is no room for error — or excuses — for Boehner in this campaign cycle. He will likely own the election results and extend his reign if they are good, and end it if they aren’t, members and aides say.

His challenges right now, beyond the obvious one of leading his party in policy fights with Democrats, are raising money in a terrible economic and political climate and getting candidates ready for battle.

The committee raised only $1.6 million in January — a huge drop-off from the same period in 2005 and 2007. The performance by members was even worse.

They gave the NRCC only $18,000 in January, according to FEC reports. That’s a stunning reversal from previous cycles. For instance, in January 2007 alone, House Republicans gave more than $2 million to the campaign committee.

Republican insiders privately acknowledge there is some lingering “ill will” from last cycle with the NRCC, and members remain “deeply disappointed” over the committee’s performance, according to a top House GOP staffer.

“Members are definitely holding back,” said the aide. “They want to see if Sessions can rebuild the [NRCC]. There is definitely a ‘Cole effect,’ if you will.”

Sessions and the House GOP leadership say they have, for now, refrained from leaning on their lawmakers for money, and they have yet to formally announce member dues to the NRCC for the 2009-10 cycle. Such dues are critical to both Democratic and Republican campaign committees, especially in the House, where they yield millions of dollars to help vulnerable incumbents and challengers.